Lecavalier, Lightning top Devils

Oct 5, 2007 - 4:56 AM

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Vincent Lecavalier picked up right
where he left off last season.

Lecavalier scored the tying and winning goals and Martin St.
Louis had three assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning spoiled Brent
Sutter's coaching debut by downing the New Jersey Devils, 3-1,
on Thursday in the season opener for both teams.

Lecavalier scored the winner with 3:52 remaining in the third
period, when St. Louis slid a pass to across the goalmouth to
the center, setting him up to beat an out-of-position Martin
Brodeur and give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.

"We played better in the second half," Tampa Bay coach John
Tortorella said. "We fought it for a while there. I think we
were a little jumpy, and you have to give credit to Jersey, they
just looked quicker than us."

Vaclav Prospal tacked on an empty-net goal with 59 seconds
remaining to seal the win for the Lightning.

"Playing with Marty and Vinny (Prospal) makes things easy,"
Lecavalier said. "Overall, we played together as a team. It
was the first game for a lot of young guys, and they played
unbelievable."

With New Jersey leading 1-0, Lecavalier evened the game nearly
halfway through the second period, wristing a shot from the
right faceoff circle that beat Brodeur to the stick side.

It was quite a nice way to start the season for Lecavalier, who
scored 52 goals in 2006-07 en route to winning the Maurice
Richard Trophy, awarded to the leading goal scorer in the NHL.

"He's a good hockey player," New Jersey's John Madden said.
"You don't get 52 goals for no reason. You combine all his
talent with his hard work and he's going to get his chances."

Lecavalier has enjoyed great success against Brodeur, scoring
five times against the three-time Vezina Trophy-winning
goaltender in their six-game Eastern Conference quarterfinal
series last season. New Jersey won the series, however.

"Lecavalier is the best player in the league," Brodeur said.

The Devils opened the scoring 9:05 into the first period.

Zach Parise struggled to control the puck before falling to his
knees and backhanding a shot on goal. Brian Gionta deflected it
past netminder Johan Holmqvist to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead.

That was all the Devils could muster against Holmqvist, who
stopped 26 shots in the victory.

"It was a big game and it felt good," Holmqvist said. "I think
we played a solid game and did a solid job defensively,
especially on the power play."

Holmqvist also was pleased with the support supplied by
Lecavalier.

"Vinny was huge," he said. "He scored to tie the game in the
second. It was fun to see, it was a beautiful goal. That
second goal, it was nice."

Brodeur, who set a single-season record with 48 wins last
season, finished with 22 saves.

"I felt good," Brodeur said. "The first game of the season, I
would have liked to get off to a better start with a win. But
on a personal level, I felt good, and that's key."

New Jersey fell to 18-8-7 in season openers, while Tampa Bay
improved to 8-4-2.

Thursday's contest was the first of New Jersey's nine-game road
trip to start the season. The Devils will open the new
Prudential Center in Newark on October 27 against the Eastern
Conference champion Ottawa Senators, the same team that ended
New Jersey's tenure at Continental Airlines Arena in East
Rutherford in the conference semifinals.

"We played pretty well the last 17 minutes of the first and
played a really good second period," Sutter said. "We had a lot
of chances and (Holmqvist) made some big saves and we didn't
bear down enough around the net."